Dead
by WisperRanger26
Summary: How did this even come to be! Anyways, on with the summary! What if Ferris succeeded in killing Halt? Well, that wouldn't stop him from training Will, now would it? No, it wouldn't stop him. Join me as we discover the world of the dead. It's wonderful here! Rated T because there may or may not be something in coming chapters. I don't know what.


_Please note that I am deliberately ignoring some parts of Ranger's Apprentice so as to make this work. Keep that in mind before you go on and on in the reviews about how in book 9 at the end Halt kissed Pauline very willingly, and blah blah blah. I know, I'm just bending the books so as to make this work. I just really like this idea. ^.^_

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Halt had never liked people touching him. Even when Pauline would go to hug him when he was done with a mission, he would shy away and duck under her embrace. No one ever questioned it however, thinking he just didn't like human contact. _(AN: Yes, I was just setting it up.)_

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Halt looked in torment as the paddle smashed down on his head. Ferris wielded the unwieldy stick savagely, his jaw set in grim determination. He would kill Halt, and get the throne if it was the last thing he did. Halt knew this.

"Ferris, please, just listen to me!" Halt cried. "I don't want the throne, any more than you _don't_ want it!"

"That's what you want me to think!" Ferris snarled. He then produced a long dagger, and before Halt could even register what was happening, Ferris plunged the blade into his twin's chest. Halt's eyes glazed, and he dropped into the river. Ferris dropped the knife in horror.

"What have I done...what have I done?" He cried, his shoulders shaking. _(AN: Nice twist, huh? Confused yet as to how this is going to work out? I am too.)_

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Halt looked on in horror as Will gripped the side of the cliff in sheer terror.

"Will, hold on, I'm coming!" He called. Will didn't bother to try to reply, and gripped harder. Below him was at least a hundred foot drop, ending in jagged stones. Halt scrambled down, not seeming to care if he fell.

Because he didn't.

He was already dead, so how could he fall? As a ghost, he could technically float so he needn't climb down. But he wasn't going to, because Will was never going to know, and no one ever would.

Finally he was on the ledge Will dangled ever so perilously from.

"Hang on Will, just a bit longer." Halt said. Will nodded, his face red and his knuckles white with exertion. Halt extended his arm over the side of the cliff, and used all his strength and power to make it seem solid, just long enough to haul Will up. Grunting he pulled Will up. Just as Will was almost up, Hat's solidity dropped and Will's hand passed through his own. Halt stumbled back, sweat running down his forehead.

"Halt, did your-no, it couldn't have." Will said, his face pale. Halt's hand had seemed to pass through his, but it couldn't have. Must've been a trick of the light, or a hallucination. His hand was cold beyond belief, but that must be because he hadn't even put such strain on it before. But, what about his other hand? He shook his head, and looked up at Halt. "Thank you Halt."

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It was nearly noon, and Halt still wasn't up, Will thought with no little concern. Halt, who was always up before him, nagging at him to wake up. Will thought about going into his room to wake him up, but he quickly dispelled the thought. Halt had forbade him from entering. But still, maybe if he just knocked on the door?

Before he knew it, he was opening the door. What met his eyes he never could've even imagined.

Halt was lying on the bed, perfectly still. The sheets were unwrinkled and even though his head very clearly lay on the pillow, it lay as if nothing had touching it in years. But what was most disturbing, was Halt. He seemed normal at first glance, but if you looked closely, he seemed to be ever so slightly see through.

"Halt, are you ok...?" Will asked shakily. Halt shot up and turned pale.

"Will, I thought I told you not to come in here!" He snapped.

"You did but you were sleeping really late so I thought I'd wake you up." Will said, stuttering.

"Get. Out." Halt said, and Will practically tripped over his own feet trying to get out. The door slammed shut.

Halt sighed, running a finger through his salt and pepper hair. Now Will was suspicious, and had seen. First things first, he had to fix his appearance. He closed his eyes and concentrated, and he became, well, not see through. _(AN: I'm really uncomfortable writing Halt and being...see through. Truly. But, I am loving this plot so the story must go on!)_

He dressed himself, then walked out of his bedroom. Will was sitting by the table, his face pale.

"Halt, why were you...partially...see through?" Will asked, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.

"Must've been a trick of the light." Halt said, his face impassive.

"Oh, so now light can make you transparent?" Will scoffed.

Halt couldn't think of anything to say, so he stayed silent.

"Halt, why won't you just tell me what's going on?" Will pleaded. Even though he pleaded for Halt to tell him, he didn't expect anything. Halt always managed to surprise him, however.

"Remember in Hibernia when I told you how Ferris tried to kill me?' Halt asked quietly. For Will, this was the last thing he expected.

"Yes..." Will confirmed cautiously.

"Well, instead of failing, he succeeded." Halt finished even quieter.

"But...how?!" Will asked, jumping up so suddenly that his chair fell over. "This is a joke, you're pulling my leg!" Halt shook his head, and dropped all attempt at concealing his true ghostly self and became transparent. To top it off, he even started hovering a couple inches off the ground. _(AN: How classic ghostly can you get?! Well, I couldn't really think of anything else. Besides, I like the idea that ghosts are the exact replica of the person it used to be, just...transparent. No sheet for ghosts here!)_

Will's eyes rolled up and he fell to the floor in a dead faint.

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Will now knew, and Halt knew it was only a matter of time before Will blabbed. For the past week, he had been avoiding Halt and always grew pale when he was in the same room as him.

Oh, how truth could change the way one sees another.

Come to think of it, Pauline had been staring at him lately. Of course she did it discretely, but Halt was as observant as ever and knew. Who all knew now? Why, _why,_ had Halt told Will? Why?

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"Is it true Halt?" Crowley asked.

"Is what true?" Halt asked, feigning that he had no clue as to what the Commandant was talking about.

"I think you know very well what I mean. Will's told me that you told him you're a..." Crowley couldn't seem to bring himself to say it. Halt sighed, knowing that this time he could never wriggle out of this one.

"A ghost?" Halt said more than asked. Crowley slowly nodded. Halt sighed again. "Yes, it's true." He said with yet another sigh. Crowley ran his fingers through his sandy hair and blew out his cheeks in a sigh. There seemed to be a lot of that these days.

"I wonder if the books have anything to say on whether or not someone can be a Ranger when they're dead." Crowley said with a laugh.

"Wait, there's seriously a book saying what someone has to have to be a Ranger?" Halt asked.

"Yes, right here." Crowley said, picking up a large book titled _'To be a Ranger.'_ "Anyways, we have to address this."

"Crowley, can't you see that I'm the same I ever was? The only difference is that now you know!" Halt said in an exasperated voice.

"Yes, now I know. This changes everything! How is it even possible?" Crowley asked, waving his arms around.

"Does it look like I know? All I know is that my brother murdered me and I woke up a day later like this." Halt said, gesturing to himself.

"Halt, why can't you see how this changes-"

"This changes nothing." Halt snarled, stalking out of the tent. Crowley sighed (again) and ran his fingers through his hair.

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 _Ok, it's getting really hard to write so I'm going to make another chapter. What do you think of this? I loved this idea, and originally I was gonna have Will plummet to his doom then have Halt be all like 'You know what, fuck this, I'm going to save him!' And then he zooms off the cliff and brings Will to safety, but I wanted Halt to save Will a different way. So you got this. You have no clue how much hard, but fun, this was to write. And when I wrote Halt being...transparent, I'm just not very good at that. :L_

 _Pleeeeeeeeeeeeasse tell me what you think? Please? Pretty please with a blueberry on top? See what I did there? No? Halt likes blueberries. So I used blueberry instead of cherry._

 _~Wisper Ranger 26_

 _PS: I am forever alone with my RA references._


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